A Mississippi school district is considering its options for appeal following a court order to desegregate May 13.
The Cleveland School District in northwest Mississippi received the order on the same day a government report showed segregation is a growing problem in the country, according to ABC News.
The district’s school board released a statement describing the student population as undeniably integrated and leaving the option open to appeal.
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The court ordered two high schools and two middle schools in the district to be desegregated. The Justice Department will integrate the student populations of D.M. Smith Middle School and Margaret Green Junior High School and the populations of East Side High School and Cleveland High School. D.M. Smith Middle School and East Side High School were described as “virtually all black” in court documents.
A statement from the district, which has 11 schools and learning centers in total, asserted that the decision “will limit the choices for both parents and students” and pointed out that none of the four schools in question have majority white enrollment.
The desegregation order came on the same day that the Government Accountability Office released a report showing that 16 percent of all public schools were three quarters black and Hispanic in the 2013-2014 school year. That number is up from just nine percent in the 2000-2001 school year.
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